ENGL 856 Dr. Robinson

Research Paper

Select a work of literature (poem, play, story, or novel) that has had time to accumulate a significant body of criticism around it. Survey that criticism, including initial reviews (if applicable), and write an essay describing the early, middle, and recent reception of the work by the critics. What changes have taken place from one phase to the next? Have the issues remained the same? Any dramatic breakthroughs? Stupid errors? Major reassessments? Try to draw some conclusions about the evolution (or chaos) that you uncover. This last requirement is important: I don't just want a list of critical views, but your analysis and critical assessment of those views. The goal is to come to a greater understanding of how critics do their work, and how works of literature fare in their hands.

Note: This assignment will be more survivable if you are cautious about the literary work you choose, avoiding any with too large a body of criticism. Hamlet has the most interesting critical history of any work, perhaps, but that history might be hard to assimilate in the time available to you. On the other hand, if you have done extensive research already on a suitable work (Hamlet included), this might be an opportunity to extend or reconsider the results of that labor from a different angle.

Length: At least twelve pages, no more (God help us!) than fifty.

Style: MLA

Due: 5 pm, Thursday, April 26